


Lost in the Woods

by leighwrites



Series: Gift Fics [10]
Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Camping, Love Confessions, M/M, a gift for my wonderful mckenna, get together times!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-19
Updated: 2020-01-19
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:00:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22323721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leighwrites/pseuds/leighwrites
Summary: “Okay, we strayed off course a little but don’t panic.” Stan informs Eddie as he leads him back the way they came.“Isn’t that just a fancy way of saying lost?” Eddie shoots, following after Stan as he tightens his grip on the strap of his backpack. “Please tell me we’re not lost.”
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak/Stanley Uris
Series: Gift Fics [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1711624
Comments: 4
Kudos: 36





	Lost in the Woods

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Oldguybones](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oldguybones/gifts).



“Wait you’ve seriously  _ never  _ been camping?” Stan asks, lowering his glass. 

Since starting college it has become a kind of tradition with his roomate, Eddie, that whenever they need a study break from their overbearing business course they play a private only for them version of  _ I have never _ . It’s a way to get to know each other without asking questions because it allows them to say the things they’re comfortable sharing.

Eddie shrugs, tapping his fingers against his glass. “Bill and Richie went camping every weekend but my mom would never let me go so I ended up being that weird kid who had to drop out of them just because my mom said I would get sick, or I was too allergic to the grass and stuff to be outside for too long.”

Stan frowns, looking down at the glass he’s holding in his lap. “That doesn’t make you weird Eddie. There’s a place me and my day go once a year for camping. We could go there - me and you. I could give you the camping experience you were rudely denied. We’ll do it the old fashioned way too with no technology. It’ll be fun.”

Eddie makes an unsure hum in the back of his throat. “I don’t know Stan. What if something goes wrong while we’re out there?”

“Nothing will go wrong. I’ve done this  _ tons  _ of times with my dad. I know what I’m doing. Think about it, when you go home for the summer and see Richie and Bill again you can be like  _ hey guys, guess what I finally got to do on my spring break _ and surprise the hell out of them.”

Eddie smiles at that. He can already see the look of shock on Richie’s face when he finds out that Eddie’s actually been camping -  _ real  _ camping. Not some improvised edition in Richie’s basement that’s done to make him feel better about missing out on their camping trips. “Okay, yeah. Let’s do this.”

“Great! Well go Tuesday. It’ll give me chance to get anything we might need.”

Eddie finds that he’s oddly excited about going camping when Tuesday arrives. He thought he’d be a lot more nervous considering he’s had the nagging voice of his mother in the back of his head trying to sway him all weekend. It tries to remind him how deadly the wild is and how he’s allergic to everything and too sick to be outside overnight but he doesn’t let it win. He doesn’t let it take over his excitement. This is something he needs to do - for himself. He needs to experience things now that he’s finally free from her. Because he’s not sick, and he’s not allergic to anything. He can do this and he knows he can. He came to Atlanta to get away from her and her lies. 

He can’t - won’t - let her ruin this camping experience for him.

Stan emerges from their shared bathroom with a last minute items he needs to pack in his hand. It’s a small bottle of pills, and when Eddie looks at him in confusion, Stan smiles at him reassuringly. “They’re sleeping pills in case you can’t sleep. There’s a lot of um… unnerving sounds in the wild. They’re nothing to worry about but first time paranoia can be a pain. You ready to go?”

“Yup. All done packing.” Eddie climbs to his feet and grabs the backpack from his bed, tugging the strap over his shoulder. If this was any other trip he knows he would have packed a  _ lot  _ more, but Stan had given him a list of things he needed to pack, instructing him not to overpack since they had to hike a bit into the woods. “Are you sure there’s nothing else we need?”

Stan can’t help but smile over how cautious Eddie is - it’s kind of adorable actually. “I’m sure. We have everything we need in four bags including food and the tent. You should relax a little. I’ve got this.”

Eddie tries to relax, tries to let the excitement completely take over, but once they’re in the car and moving feel the nerves bubble up through the excitement. He doesn’t notice it at first. He’s too busy looking out the window, focusing on the passing scenary and letting himself get lost in it. He only notices when he feels Stan grab his hand, feels his finger which had no doubt been tapping annoyingly against his knee flatten under the weight of Stan’s hand.

“I told you. Relax. You’re gonna be fine.” Stan reassures Eddie, giving his hand a gentle squeeze. “I promise.”

Stan doesn’t release Eddie’s hand unless he needs to shift gears as he drives, but it always returns to Eddie’s after, and Eddie finds that it keeps him calm, stops him from spiralling into a panic. Sure, he’s excited about doing something new, but its also extremely uncharted territory so his nerves are winning right now. He has Stan though, and Stan used to be a boy scout. He knows what he’s doing. He’s not stupid.

Everything starts out smoothly. They reach the general quarry area outside of Atlanta. There’s a few cars parked around belonging to hikers and other campers. Stan parks up and grabs the map of the area. It’s not he  _ needs  _ it but he knows that it’ll put Eddie’s mind at ease. They distribute the bags between them so they’re carrying two each and head off into the forestry to go to the camping spot. Stan unfolds the map and makes a show of looking down at it once in a while - further easing Eddie’s mind about their trip.

That’s where it starts to go to hell. Stan’s been harbouring a crush on Eddie, and that crush is now becoming a problem because he’s paying more attention to the awed Eddie who has never been in the wilderness before than he is to where they’re going. It’s about half an hour later of walking, glancing at the unneeded map to Eddie and avoiding the odd tree in their path that Stan suddenly realises at some point during his  _ not looking at the forest around them _ that the general area doesn’t really look all that familiar.

It’s not too concerning at first, forests change a lot when you only visit them once a year, and when he can see the familiar formation of rocks nearby it eases him. The rock formation isn’t on the map but he knows them because he passes them every time he comes camping with his dad. They’re not lost. Everything is fine. He glances down at the map just to be sure they’re on the right path, and the map says they are so that’s good enough for him. 

Stan continues to lead Eddie through the woods, striking up a casual conversation with him to keep him relaxed about the fact he’s about to be sleeping in a tent in the middle of the woods, pausing in mid-sentence when he notices the lake ahead of them. He’s never passed a lake with his dad when they’ve come out here. They pass caves and camp near them. They shouldn’t be near a lake. He doesn’t want Eddie to panic though, so he glances down at the map like he’s been doing the whole time, trying not to let him see that he’s darting his eyes across it, desperately trying to find their location on the map. He finds their location and exhales in relief when he sees the caves are towards the bottom right corner. They’ve gone a little too far forward and it’s not a big deal. They can just turn and go back.

“Okay, we strayed off course a little but don’t panic.” Stan informs Eddie as he leads him back the way they came.

“Isn’t that just a fancy way of saying lost?” Eddie shoots, following after Stan as he tightens his grip on the strap of his backpack. “Please tell me we’re not lost.”

“We’re not lost. Look,” Stan points down at the lake on the map, “this is where we are,” he trails his finger across to the nearby caves on the map, “and this is where we need to be. We’re not that far off. It should take us about twenty minutes to hike there.”

Twenty minutes later provides them with another issue. They’ve reached a creek that he knows is a popular camping spot but the creek on Stan’s map is in the opposite direction to the caves. This doesn’t make any sense to Stan. How did they end up so far off course? He stares at the map as though it will suddenly talk him through where he went wrong, coming to a stop at the edge of the creek. 

It brings Eddie to a stop too, mere inches from the bridge to cross over the creek, and he glances back over his shoulder at Stan. “What’s wrong?”

Stan doesn’t want to worry Eddie, but he knows he can’t keep something like this from him. Eddie has a right to know - especially since it’s starting to get dark. “Okay, don’t panic -”

Curious, Eddie steps over a large tree root and joins Stan. “We’re lost aren’t we?”

“We’re not  _ lost _ technically. Lost implies I don’t know where we are. I know where we are and where we should be but I don’t know how we got here.” Stan taps at the creek on the map towards the top left corner. “We somehow ended up here. Which makes no sense because we walked in a straight line.”

Eddie’s eyes scan over the map and then he reaches for it. Stan releases it surprisingly easy and he watches as Eddie slowly turns it around before he’s handing it back to him. “You had it upside down.”

Stan stares at the map again, noting the little compass in the top right corner, the signal of it being the top of the map, and he lets out a groan. He’s never messed up with a map before. “Fucking great.”

“It’s not a big deal, right? We know where to go now.”

Stan looks around the small clearing they’re in and folds the map. “It’s getting too dark. We won’t get to where we need to today. Flashlights only help so much and we’ll be tripping over each other. We’re stuck here tonight.”

Stan’s impressed at how well Eddie is taking to them being lost right now. He can see the panic flash in his eyes once in a while, but somehow he’s holding it together. It’s really impressive since he knows how easy it is for Eddie to spiral into a panic, and because he’s able to keep himself calm they have their tent set up before night falls and Stan manages to get a fire ready so they can actually eat something. 

“I’m really impressed at how calm you’re being.” Stan says, twisting the stick in his hand with the marshmallow stuck to the end. “Even I wanted to freak out at some points.”

Eddie’s leg bounces slightly, which in turn bounces his own marshmallow tipped stick. “I told myself if something went wrong that I would treat it as part of the experience and not freak out about it because you wouldn’t let anything  _ bad  _ happen to me.”

Stan smiles, one of the few genuine smiles that Eddie’s seen, and nods his head. “You’re right. I wouldn’t. I’d keep you safe, not that you really need it since you’re pretty tough on your own.”

“You actually think that?” Eddie asks, shifting on the log they’re sitting on to look at Stan better. “No one’s ever said that before and my mom would tell you otherwise.”

Stan snorts, the sound soft as he leans back slightly on his perch. “Good thing I’m not gonna talk to your mom. What about Richie and Bill? Surely  _ they  _ told you that you’re tough.”

“Bill spends most of his time acting like he’s my older brother and knows what’s best for me and Richie… it’s hard to know when he’s being serious and when it’s just another dumb thing he’s saying because he always has a dumb comment to go with anything he says.”

Stan carefully slid across the space between them, nudging his elbow into Eddie’s side. “Hey, you’re tough Eddie, and I’m pretty sure that whenever Richie said it, if he did, even with a dumb comment on it… he meant it.”

As Stan moves closer, Eddie feels his cheeks heat up, glad that it’s dark enough Stan can’t see the colour that’s settling onto his face. This is the closest they’ve ever been to each other, and it’s making Eddie’s mind go crazy. “Thanks Stan… I really appreciate it - especially when it comes from you. Out of everyone, I admire  _ your  _ opinion the most.”

While Eddie speaks, Stan gravitates closer to him until they’re only a few inches away, elbows and thighs touching each other. The light from the fire casts a glow over Eddie’s face, and there’s a genuine smile that settles onto Stan’s face. Maybe it’s the fact they’re alone in the middle of nowhere that makes him do what he does next, what he’s wanted to do for a while now, or maybe it’s just because he can’t hold it back anymore. Either way, he’s unable to stop himself lifting a hand and cupping at Eddie’s cheek, leaning im to bring their lips together in a kiss. He feels Eddie stiffen at first, but before he can pull away, Eddie’s kissing him back, arms wrapping themselves around Stan’s neck as he lets himself melt into it.

The need to breathe becomes too much to ignore, and Stan pulls away from the kiss, keeping his hand on Eddie’s cheek to keep him close. Eddie’s smiling, and Stan knows he is too. He ducks his head to the side a little, unable to hold back the grin. “If that didn’t explain it enough for you, I  _ like  _ you Eddie. I have for a while.”

Eddie’s smile brightens, and it makes Stan’s stomach flip. “If me  _ responding  _ to you didn’t explain it enough, I like you too Stan… even if you did get us lost in the woods on my first camping experience.”

Stan groans, playfully shoving Eddie. “You’re not supposed to mention that part.”

“Are you kidding me Stan? I’m gonna tell  _ everyone  _ every little sordid detail of this adventure and how it lead to this.” Eddie gestures between them the best he can, though there isn’t much space there.

“It’s been less than ten minutes and I’m already regretting this.”

“No you’re not.”

Stan smiles, leans in, and draws him into another quick kiss. “You’re right, I’m not.”


End file.
